Men being cared for by female relatives main reason more women use nursing homes

Nursing Homes Ireland CEO Tadhg Daly, minister of state, Kieran O' Donnell, Nursing Homes Ireland chair Jillian van Turnhout addressed regional inequality in access to nursing homes at the conference. Picture: Nursing Homes Ireland

The main reason why there are 50% to 80% fewer men than women in nursing homes is that men are looked after at home by wives or female relatives, the Nursing Homes Ireland (NHI) conference has been told.

Regional inequality in access to nursing homes was also raised, along with a projected need for up to 20,000 new beds over 15 years.

Brendan Walsh, a senior research officer at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), called for system-wide planning to meet the changing needs of older people.

“The median age of a resident was 85 years of age. That means 85% of all residents in nursing homes in 2022 were 85 years of age, we’re talking about an older cohort here,” he said.

The data also shows different uptake of this option by men and women.

“From the ages of 80 to 90 plus, there’s about a 50% to 80% difference in terms of utilisation amongst females than males,” he said.

He said this is not driven by there being more women than men in the older population.

“There’s good evidence that one reason for this is that females or female spouses are much better and much more likely to care for their male spouses than vice versa,” he said.

"This is why we see a greater proportion of males potentially kept out of nursing homes.” 

Mr Walsh also called for more discussion around locations of new nursing homes.

“We know regional inequalities are there, we know there are quite large discrepancies in terms of supply across the system,” he said. “There does seem to be a clear east-west divide.” 

Abuse concerns

In his address to the conference, minister of state for older people Kieran O’ Donnell acknowledged concerns of abuse in nursing homes as highlighted in recent media reports.

Speaking afterwards, he said accountability for owners of nursing homes will be addressed.

“As part of the review of nursing homes, in terms of what Hiqa is doing and more particularly in the department, we’re looking at it in terms of groups — how we can have more accountability in terms of the group structures,” he told the Irish Examiner.

“I want to make sure the groups form part of the regulation of the nursing homes, rather than just the individual nursing homes themselves.” 

He acknowledged the need for greater capacity, saying: “We’re committed to the provision of more public nursing home beds, we’re committed to the increase in the fair deal rates, we’re committed to providing a pathway for homecare assistants and nurses in terms of skillsets.” 

NHI CEO Tadhg Daly said: “ We need to be ambitious around care of older people and, if we don’t plan, we will be in a difficult position in a few years.” 

He raised concerns about small rural nursing homes closing down.

“What you have then is older people travelling,” he said. "There’s not much point saying to someone in West Cork that there’s a bed in North Cork, or to someone in Limerick that there’s a bed in Tipperary.”